some people:If it was a bad night they would actually try to physically attack me or the arresting officer as soon as the cuffs came off.which reminded me of something. Guy who used to dispatch in another office, back in my dispatch days, was an EMT. and some news report reminded him of a year-old(at that time) incident. They'd been called to the scene of a fight; guy had jumped a couple of others and gotten whacked fairly hard. They didn't pay much attention to the "That guy is NUTS!!" warning from the people, though as he was still combative the cops put a handcuff on one wrist and locked the other end to the gurney. And were following them to the hospital.

"About halfway there this guy raises his head and looks at me and says "I am Satan." I said that's cool, and then he repeated it. I mean, his eyes looked weird. And he raised his hand to point and the cuff stopped him, and he just looked at it. And then started pulling up.

And he didn't stop pulling. He wasn't breathing hard, just that weird look and the chain was so tight I was getting worried. So I told the driver to get ready to stop and edged down to the back to the extinguisher. And then he did it; he broke the fuckin' chain! And sat up. I yelled "STOP!" and sprayed him with the extinguisher, then threw open the door and jumped out.

The cops were right behind us, they almost hit us, and I landed on the hood. They jumped out and I yelled "He's loose!" They hit the back just as the guy got to the door, and it took all four of us to get him back on the gurney and cuffed, both hands and both feet. One of the cops rode with me 'cause this guy kept trying to break loose.

We got him into the emergency room and this doctor came in and said "Why is this man handcuffed?" Cop says "Because he's dangerous and kept fighting." "I will not have a patient handcuffed, take them off!" So the cop took the cuff key off his keyring, tossed it to the doctor and said "I'll be back for the key later" and we all left."

He didn't know, and I've always wondered if the doc realized just what he had before he started turning the key.

unlike the nice, peaceful socialists:But you see, something will stop them. We (the real Americans, the good and sane people) will have to round them up and put them in FEMA camps. And they know it. We're (some of us) the only ones in denial about this. They are vermin. They are not compatible with the ongoing of civil society, let alone civilization. And if you are right that "nothing will stop them," well, something will. They will finally step too far out of line (note how much rope Obama's administration's giving them) and there will be widespread public support for rounding them up and imprisoning them.

Which will tragically sad, but also absolutely necessary, should it come to pass.Assuming you have a strong stomach, go take a look. You'll find that the study they're reporting on is by James Carville and Stan Greenberg(nah, no chance of slant there). And according to the commenters, there's NO WAY we'd object to these same things being pushed by a white guy(ALL our opposition to Obama is based on his being black, y'know), someone in secret gives Limbaugh and Malkin and so forth their 'talking points' each day, etc. For instance, from one of the clowns,To suggest that racism is not part of the DNA of these lunatics, is either being naive or deliberately misleading. Why weren't their fear as manifest during the Bush years?. Just askingYep, we must be racists, and it's so ingrained it's inherited. We never said anything bad about Bush, did we?(actually we yelled and screamed a lot, but ignore that) Etc.

Just damn.

Added: according to this, the study said Racism is not a factor driving conservative opposition to President Barack Obama, according to the results of focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps, a Democratic organization, released on Friday....Rather than attributing their dislike of Obama to race, participants in the focus groups, which were a project of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, said that their disaffection was borne out of a sense that the president was orchestrating an effort to steer the country away from its “founding principles.”

“They want him to fail,” said pollster Stan Greenberg. “It’s not just a political motivation, it’s an ethical imperative given what they think Obama’s goals are.”And yet, according to all the enlightened ones, being racist is in our DNA and it's ALL about race. Yeah. Right.

It also has this line:Whether or not they voted for Obama, the independent voters said they wanted to see the president succeed and were not concerned that he was championing so-called socialist policies.That sounds an awful lot like "I don't care what he actually does, or is trying to do, I want him to succeed." Which is a hell of an attitude. Is it just "I want the President to succeed" in general, or are they more of the "He's our first black President, so he has to succeed" clowns? If the latter, then you can see one of the groups where race really matters; and it ain't us.

after an earlier jackass PC politician(former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith) had banned him; mustn't allow someone in who might upset the islamists and say non-pc things, you know. Like the people here:The visit saw protesters brandishing banners saying ''Sharia is the solution, freedom go to hell'' and ''Geert Wilders deserves Islamic punishment''.Guys, I have to tell you; carrying 'Freedom go to hell' signs isn't exactly a way to win people over. But then you don't want to win them, do you; you want to terrorize them into submission.Abu Muaz, who said he was from a group called Islam For UK, said: ''If I were to say some of the things he has said, I would be arrested under the Terrorism Act. But because there is a war on Muslims, he gets an easy ride.'' And here you have the standard claim of victimhood: 'There's a war on muslims'. My ass there is; if there were, there wouldn't be a war on any more. But it's a very PC thing for muslims to claim to be victims, so you know it'll be trotted out by these clowns.* And so far, the people most threatened in such demonstrations by the Terrorism Act are the people who dare to protest your 'Love Sharia or Else' signs; they get threatened with jail for being 'provocative' by the police protecting you.

The demonstrators said Mr Wilders was an ''enemy of Islam'', and called for Sharia law in the Netherlands.

He faces allegations in his home country of inciting racial hatred.For pointing out that the islamists want to shove sharia law down everyone's throat and kill homosexuals and otherwise act like good little jihadists; kind of proves his point, doesn't it?

Mohammed Shafiq, from the Ramadhan Foundation, said it was right that Mr Wilders had been allowed into the UK, but he should be closely monitored while in the country.The speech of the subject must be watched lest he say something we don't like.He said: ''The right decision was made to let him in because we believe in freedom of speech in this country, no matter how abhorrent someone's views are. But he has got to be monitored so that he doesn't say anything to incite religious violence."He has the right to speak. Unless he says something we don't like, that's incitement!"''If you start attacking somebody's faith in the way that he has, they could react violently. Islam is not above criticism, and criticism based on a mutual respect and tolerance is fine.If you don't have the self-control to argue against his point without resorting to violence, screw you. And note the call for 'mutual respect and tolerance'; does that include the islamists who you don't tell not to call for the death and beheading of all unbelievers?

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) branded Mr Wilders ''a relentless preacher of hate'' and objected to ''the rapturous welcome he is receiving in the name of free speech''."Stop celebrating this free speech garbage! We don't like it unless we're the only ones using it!"MCB secretary general Muhammad Abdul Bari said: ''At a time of heightened tension, with the unprecedented rise of the far right, we must all pull together and focus on points of unity and cohesion.Problems are A: you define anyone who doesn't bow down as 'far right' because it lets you call on the socialists to work with you, and B: it's hard to be for unity and cohesion with someone who wants to behead you.''Our unhealthy obsession with divisive figures only bolsters their objective to sow discord on the streets of Britain.''Which divisive figures? Only those like Wilders? Or will you include those aforementioned callers for beheadings and death and so forth as 'divisive'?

No, I didn't think so.

I told my kids a long time ago "This is the United States. I have to respect the rights of others to speak their piece and believe as they choose. That does NOT mean I have to respect their beliefs, just their right to hold them." Every time some clown calls for 'mutual respect', it usually means "Shut up and don't get in my way; you HAVE to respect me and my view even though I'm trying to destroy you and yours." Bullshit; you want respect for your view? Have respect for mine, jackass.

you'd better keep every scrap of paper and every electronic record around. Just in case.Yesterday, I received, as part of a VERY old FOIA request, a “Firearms Inspection Worknote”. While the BATFE denied the existence of any such documents, I knew that these forms existed from BATFE audits of dealers’ inventories. For some unexplained reason, the document was sent along with a letter stating that 290 other similar documents had been found and whether those documents would be of interest.

Of particular interest, on this one heavily redacted “Firearms Inspection Worknote”, at least two of the firearms were in the dealers inventory, but “not listed on the inventory list provided by the NFA branch.” In the second box, the agent apparently wrote in, “F4 [likely meaning Form 4] apvd [likely meaning approved] 8/7/01.” Thus, in all likelihood, the agent was presented with the approved Form 4 while doing the audit, even though the NFRTR either showed the suppressor as non-existent or registered to another person.

Missouri Highway Patrol issued that BS report that us nutty Americans worried about taxes and illegal immigration and such are potential terrorists? It seems something interesting turned up when a group dug into who wrote it:According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s response to ALG’s Sunshine Law Request, “[b]ackground material was not retained by the author during drafting” and “[t]here is no record listing the individual who wrote the report.” In fact, the only record the state of Missouri apparently claims it has of the report was its single draft version.

“This is simply stunning,” said Wilson. “A federal-state intelligence center that is supposed to be collecting and disseminating actionable intelligence to law enforcement personnel sent out an accusatory report, but has no record of who authored it and how it was put together.”Isn't that interesting? In a "We deny we know who-" kind of way? So either they were so sloppy and incompetent they don't even know who wrote this crap(doubtful) or they're so embarrassed and/or so worried about covering up who it was(quite possible) that they lied in the response.

A cowboy from Texas attends a social function where Barack Obama is trying to gather more support for his Health Plan. Once he discovers the cowboy is from President Bush’s home area, he starts to belittle him by talking in a southern drawl and single syllable words.

As he was doing that, he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head. The cowboy says, “Y’all havin’ some problem with them circle flies?”

Obama stopped talking and said, “Well, yes, if that’s what they’re called, but I’ve never heard of circle flies.”

“Well Sir,” the cowboy replies, “circle flies hang around ranches. They’re called circle flies because they’re almost always found circling around the back end of a horse.”

“Oh,” Obama replies as he goes back to rambling. But, a moment later he stops and bluntly asks, “Are you calling me a horse’s ass?”“No, Sir,” the cowboy replies, “I have too much respect for the citizens of this country to call their President a horse’s ass.”

“That’s a good thing,” Obama responds and begins rambling on once more.

After a long pause, the cowboy, in his best Texas drawl says, “Hard to fool them flies, though.”

communications director:Earlier this week, I spotlighted White House interim communications director and chief Fox-basher Anita Dunn’s career-long commitment to flacking for one of the Beltway’s most entrenched and crooked creatures, Tom Daschle.

I also noted that Dunn is married to Obama thug lawyer Robert Bauer, who tried valiantly to get the DOJ to prosecute conservative critics and punish TV stations for running an ad critical of Obama’s relationship with Weather Underground Bill Ayers....More: Squier, Knapp, and Dunn — Dunn’s p.r. firm — has clients including:

Here's the latest on the Zelaya-Micheletti Honduras standoff--An agreement was reached last night but was not made public. Today the government will release the news as representatives from both sides continue to work on the details.

The initial reports that Manuel Zelaya would be reinstated as president were not accurate.

The latest speculation comes from my sources inside the Micheletti government.President Micheletti will step down and may be moved to a position connected to the Honduran Supreme Court.

Former President Manuel Zelaya will be exiled to Spain. If he comes back to Honduras he will be charged for his many crimes discovered by the current government after Zelaya was ousted for circumventing the Honduran Constitution.

Another official will step in as president until elections in November.

From what I've read of this Micheletti did nothing wrong; he's probably being moved as a sop to the clowns in other countries still accusing him of being part of a 'coup'. I'd imagine he considers this a cheap price to keep Zelaya from having another chance to screw the country.

so he could do this:House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) held a hearing this morning to certify that H.R. 3200 -- the main House Obamacare bill which was the subject of all the town hall rage in August -- has met all requirements to pass as a “budget reconciliation” measure.

Under reconciliation, the bill can be passed by a simple majority vote in the Senate -- just 51 votes -- and will be given preferential treatment on the House floor as well. The Dems have apparently invoked the “nuclear option” to shut out Republicans and ensure the bill is passed before the end of the year.Hey, one corrupt politician using another; standard acting in D.C.

Which is why so many people are thinking of tar and feathers. And ropes.

will get the idea that people are fairly sick of 'R' candidates that are nothing more than Evil Party Lite. And sometimes not so lite.Scozzafava is an abortion rights advocate who favors gay marriage. It would be one thing if Scozzafava balanced that social liberalism with fiscal conservatism. But as a state assemblywoman, she voted for massive tax increases, Democratic budgets and a $180 million state bank bailout. She also supported the trillion-dollar federal stimulus package — which every House Republican voted against.

More troubling, Scozzafava in past elections has embraced the ballot line of the Working Families Party — a socialist outfit whose political DNA is intertwined with scandal-ridden ACORN. ACORN and the WFP have shared office space in New York City, Arkansas and Illinois. ACORN head Bertha Lewis, a close Scozzafava friend and political supporter, wears a second hat as vice chairman of the WFP. The WFP has been listed in ACORN documents dating back to 2000 as an “affiliate.”...Scozzafava’s husband is a leading upstate New York union organizer. She supports the federal “card-check” legislation that would massively boost union rolls — and Democratic voting rolls — at the expense of rank-and-file workers’ free choice. And for that matter, at the expense of Republican electoral prospects. Card check is the key to a Democratic majority in perpetuity. Big Labor bosses have said as much.And this is someone of whom the NRCC says "Our best chance to put responsible and principled leaders in Washington starts here..."

Not hardly. And I've got news for the NRCC: when Gingrich started sucking the global warming kool-aid and making commercials with Pelosi, he lost an awful lot of attraction to people who actually hold conservative and libertarian views.

Pay attention, Stupid Party; we don't want to vote for a socialist democrat politician just because you put an 'R' after their name. Get the message, or else.

she loves Mao. Yes, that Mao.According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, Dunn is claiming this was a “joke.” But watch the clip. The weaves Mao’s “you fight your war I’ll fight mine” quote into a larger message for students to take their own path.That's not a joke; it's a warning as to just what kid of people Obama surrounds himself with. You think he and his staff were not aware of this?

anybody surprised?The plot thickens on the media’s character-lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Of the four stories run on ESPN.com about Limbaugh’s bid for the Rams (October 6, October 12, October 15, and another October 15) none of them mention that NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith served as counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder and was a member of Barack Obama’s transition team.

The October 12 article references Smith’s anti-Limbaugh email meant to garner opposition against the radio host’s bid. The report refers to Smith only as the executive director of the NFLPA. Despite the fact that Smith’s opposition was based on Limbaugh’s political commentary, the report failed to mention that Smith’s political connections (including those to whom he donated thousands of dollars) have a vested interest in Limbaugh’s discrediting....It is not as if ESPN didn’t know of Smith’s history. The sports web site ran a report in July which stated:

In selecting Smith this year, the union chose Washington smarts over football experience. Smith, a Washington lawyer, served on the Obama transition team and also worked for Eric Holder before Holder became attorney general.

Smith’s gross conflict of interest and apparent political targeting of Obama’s top foe is a huge story. Unfortunately the media appears too blinded by their prejudice of Limbaugh to report on it.

A true rapprochement can only happen when the thorny issues that still beset the Anglo Libyan relationship are resolved. The apparent thorns include the UK victims of "Libyan semtex"; WPc Yvonne Fletcher; the Libyan victims of UK WWII land mines; reconciliation of outstanding Lockerbie issues; the Benghazi victims of the US Air Force bombing raid; and trade disputes going back to the days of the Revolution.

Uh, guy? Some of these things are not like the others. You want to lump people- very unfortunately, no question- injured by old mines with terrorist victims? You want to conflate a bombing raid against a terrorist-supporting government with the bombs of terrorists? Screw you, Mr. McCue.

In case it escaped your notice, a whole lot of people fell victim to mines in WWII and after; and to errant aerial bombs and artillery shells. You want to feel guilty about it, go right ahead, but don't expect the rest of the country to play. The US launched the raid on Libya because their nutcase dictator was supporting terrorism that killed US citizens; they want to wail about it, tell them to wail at their dictator for causing the raid.

than other terrorist victims:British prosecutors were told more than two years ago that they had sufficient evidence to charge two Libyans over the killing of WPc Yvonne Fletcher, according to a leaked report.

A senior lawyer carried out an independent review of the case on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), in which he said Matouk Mohammed Matouk and Abdulgader Mohammed Baghdadi could be charged with conspiracy to cause death.

Both men played instrumental roles in organising the shooting at the Libyan embassy in St James’s Square, central London, in 1984, the report said.

The secret report, which was commissioned by the CPS on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, was completed in April 2007, just six weeks before Tony Blair, the prime minister at the time, held a controversial meeting with Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. The meeting formally opened trade links between Britain and the north African country.Hey, what's a murdered cop, and a plan to murder a bunch of demonstrators, when you've got a deal to make with a muslim dictator? Good going, Tony!

I will argue with the murdered cops mother on one thing:Queenie Fletcher, WPc Fletcher’s mother, 76, said yesterday that it was “incredibly frustrating” to be told about the report’s recommendations and “if there is enough evidence to prosecute these two men, they should face trial in a neutral country”. No, ma'am, they should be tried in Britain. Preferably after a death penalty has been enacted for murder.

I said once that I gave Tony Blair credit for seeing that the terrorists and their backers had to be fought now, or it'd be much worse later; but in most other ways he's the kind of left-wing nanny-state politician I despise, and this is just further proof of that.

are,Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

Among the 778 such projects, known as earmarks, packed into the bill: $25 million for a new World War II museum at the University of New Orleans and $20 million to launch an educational institute named after the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. I remember John Effing Kerry pushing the latter; apparently the amount of ammo, medical supplies and such could go to the troops for $20 mil. just doesn't matter to the bastard.

he's got some big Johnny No-Legs in the area.Two species, the boa constrictor and Burmese python, have already established breeding populations in south Florida and experts have found "strong evidence" that the northern African python may be breeding in the wild as well....The reticulated python is the world's longest snake and the green anaconda is the heaviest, the scientists said, and both have been found in south Florida, although it was not certain if they are breeding.Coming Soon: Anaconda: Spring Break

I wonder how many of the bigshots in the Brady Group to Ban Guns have private security guards? For that matter, I wonder if they'd have a problem calling the police if they were attacked? If so, apparently it's properly Christ-like to pay someone else to do violence in your defense, just don't do it yourself.

In the comments at Uncle,There is a difference between an insult (”if a man slaps you, turn the other cheek”), and a threat to life and limb.

Why didn't I call the police? It never occurred to me. The only stalking cases I'd even heard of involved celebrities. How was I going to convince the police that this person was a threat? What were the chances they'd believe I hadn't done anything to encourage him? Later, when I was rattled enough and ready to call, some administrators at the journalism school urged me not to. They felt my stalker was fragile and didn't want me to push him over the edge. The basic message was this: If I turned him in, he'd commit suicide, and it would be my fault. So, no pressure.Thirty years ago, which makes it a relatively early example of the kind of stupidity that currently insists we have to be nice to terrorists because of the 'root causes'. Or should drop charges against a child rapist because "It wasn't rape-rape."

and neither can anyone else.When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.

Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated — and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims’ flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan.

What the grieving nation did not know was that in the months before the French soldiers arrived in mid-2008, the Italian secret service had been paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taleban commanders and local warlords to keep the area quiet, The Times has learnt. The clandestine payments, whose existence was hidden from the incoming French forces, were disclosed by Western military officials.

on the databases they maintain on people, then maybe they shouldn't have the databases at all.Republican Sen. John McCain’s mention of the Toledo-area man during a presidential debate ultimately led to the downfall of an Ohio cabinet director for snooping in state computers for confidential information on “Joe.”

Nearly a year later, a former contractor for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police has been charged with rummaging through a police computer network to retrieve personal information about Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.

Brett A. Gerke, 52, of 2329 Woodcreek Place on the Far North Side, is charged with attempted unauthorized use of property, a first-degree misdemeanor.As of the time I retired, this kind of thing was a violation of federal and state law, and not a damned misdemeanor either, for a law enforcement officer to misuse these systems. But the state of Ohio decided not to actually prosecute this guy for this violation? And who let the clown have access to the systems, and why aren't they being prosecuted?

before I take Security Staff to the vet:Have I mentioned that, overall, Coburn is one of the politicians I can actually be happy is in the Congress?Instead of passing a $33.5 billion measure funding energy and water projects and then moving on to other business, the chamber slogged through a 30-hour protest by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who halted further legislative business after one of his pet ideas was dropped from the bill.

At issue is one of Coburn's top issues — greater transparency in government — as well as his sworn enemy, the powerful Appropriations Committee. Coburn had added to the energy and water bill a provision requiring reports that agencies are required to send to the appropriations panels be made available to other lawmakers and to the public. It's part of his drive for greater transparency in government.You'll notice MSNBC refers to it as Coburn's 'pet idea'; nice way to diminish it, huh? And to ignore that Obama promised 'transparency' and has lied every step of the way.

You want to know just how bad the Baucus Tax You To Death For Healthcare Reform would be?Most astounding of all is what this Congress is willing to do to struggling middle-class families. The bill would impose nearly $400 billion in new taxes and fees. Nearly 90% of that burden will be shouldered by those making $200,000 or less.

It might not appear that way at first, because the dollars are collected via a 40% tax on sales by insurers of "Cadillac" policies, fees on health insurers, drug companies and device manufacturers, and an assortment of odds and ends.

But the economics are clear. These costs will be passed on to consumers by either directly raising insurance premiums, or by fueling higher health-care costs that inevitably lead to higher premiums. Consumers will pay the excise tax on high-cost plans. The Joint Committee on Taxation indicates that 87% of the burden would fall on Americans making less than $200,000, and more than half on those earning under $100,000.Once again, Obama's promise to not tax anyone making less than $200k was a flat lie. And Baucus wants to ram this crap down our throats.

Looks like at least part of Snowe's price to be a turncoat(again) was to get your money to save Maine from paying the price for their 'public option' insurance plan. The Democratic legislature tried to replace this funding mechanism with a tax on beer, wine, and soda, but Mainers exercised a “voters’ veto” and repealed this tax via referendum. Running out of money, the legislature went back to taxing Maine insurance companies (and, by extension, private policyholders), enacting a 2 percent tax on all paid insurance claims. The state also has capped enrollment in order to keep costs from spiraling further out of control. The program’s supporters are now looking to Washington for help. “We have a very limited capacity because of limited resources,” Maine Office of Health Policy and Finance director Trish Riley said recently. “With federal money, more people would become eligible and the federal government would require people to have coverage.”

Obamacare would relieve a handful of northeastern states, including Maine, of the burden of funding their broken, heavily regulated and subsidized health-care systems while imposing new burdens on the South and Midwest in the form of expanded eligibility for Medicaid. Of course Snowe voted for this bill. It's a bailout for Maine.One of the things that disgusts me about so many politicians is how they're willing to screw the whole rest of the country for their own and their district or state's benefit; in this case, she's willing to have the taxes of everyone in the country go through the roof, AND screw with our health care, to bail Maine out of paying the price for their own screwups. Well, screw Maine; they put their messed-up system in place, they should not get to pick my damned pocket to pretend to fix it.

Now if you'll excuse me, Security needs her rabies booster.And I stole the Baucus Prescription from Denny

In a candid moment during today's Al Sharpton radio show (probably not intended for the rest of us to hear), Oben admitted that Rush's political views regarding Obama were key to the opposition that appears to have derailed his bid to purchase the St Louis Rams.

Sharpton lied and slandered people in the Tawana Brawley faked mess, and slithered way from paying when the court found against him; he's thrown racial and bigoted statements around for which he's not held responsible by the media(kind of like Jesse Jackson), but spread lies about Limbaugh? No problem, they'll report them as if they were true.

I hope Limbaugh does sue the ass of the people involved in spreading the lies.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

seems to have gotten the message: Gerry in comments noted the change and I found this at Big Dick's place:Apparently the owners and management of the Oaks Apartments have gotten your messages and lifted the ban.Nice job with the heat.

Matthew Whalen, a senior at Lansingburgh Senior High School, says he follows the Boy Scout motto and is always prepared, stocking his car with a sleeping bag, water, a ready-to-eat meal — and the knife, which was given to him by his grandfather, a police chief in a nearby town.

But Lansingburgh High has a zero-tolerance policy, and when school officials discovered that Whalen kept his knife locked in his car, he says, they suspended him for five days — and then tacked on an additional 15 after a hearing.

Got that? 20 days, for a pocketknife in a survival kit locked in his car.

The school district's policy lists "Possessing a weapon" under "examples of violent conduct," which "may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including suspension from school."

School district officials did not reply to requests for comment.

Whalen says Macri gave him the longest suspension possible — five school days.

"They gave me the five-day suspension, because that is all a principal can suspend a student for," he said. "And from there, they had a superintendent hearing to see if the superintendent wanted to suspend me for longer.

"But the superintendent wasn't even at the hearing. It was the principal and the athletic director. The vice principal who originally suspended me wasn't even there, and neither was the superintendent. They basically asked me, 'Did you have the knife in your car?' And I said 'Yes, I did.' The meeting was recorded and they told me they were going to play the tape to the superintendent.

"They asked me if I wanted to say anything, and I told them all my accomplishments and what I've done, and the principal even admitted that I had no intent to use the knife, that I had no accessibility to the knife."

But school officials decided to suspend Whalen for an extra 15 days anyway, he said. And unless the decision is changed, he will not be allowed on school grounds until Oct. 21.

And, for the Strong Contender for Cowardice and Idiocy in a School District,Whalen said he does not know why the 15 days were added, but he said a school district employee told him it was because the school wanted to apply its policies consistently.

"I've been told by someone who works for the district that they had to do it, because if someone else had a knife and they saw that I didn't get a suspension, that it would look bad for the school.Yeah, God forbid the principal or superintendent have to actually think, or make judgements and decisions; how would school operate if that was the case?

Noted by Insty as 'another idiotic zero-tolerance story'. To say the least.

anyone who doesn't like it has to tolerate my flag anyway.Resident we talked to who had been approached to take down their flags all told us the same thing: that management told them the flags could be offensive because they live in a diverse community.

Attempts to find out for ourselves why management would ban flags were unsuccessful. KATU wanted to talk to management at Oaks Apartments, but no one has returned our calls. The woman we were told had made the decision said she was "not going to answer any questions."You try to evict someone for a flag on their vehicle, or in their window, I think you're going to be answering some questions...

in Western Australia; from what I understand it's worse in other territories. Then read this:GUN violence is so out of control there are three shootings a week in Sydney and neighbourhoods are living in fear....Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher said NSW was awash with handguns, which were being imported from overseas and then traded on Sydney streets.

"Criminals are getting their hands on illegally imported firearms," he said last night.

A frightening array of guns have been seized in the past month, including a .357 Magnum handgun and a .22 shortened rifle with silencer.Damn, it's that conflict with the Law of Supply and Demand again...In one raid on September 9, police officers managed to seize five Colt M16 assault rifles, three Colt AR15 assault rifles, three 9mm assault rifles, a tactical assault rifle and seven 9mm handguns at Rosebery.If the reporter has some of their nomenclature correct, there were three ARs and five actual M16 rifles, and since the select-fire stuff is even illegaler than the others, apparently the crooks just aren't obeying the law.

Although I wonder, what's the difference between a M16 and a 'tactical assault rifle'? It's even blacker?

A Delaware first-grader who was facing 45 days in an alternative school as punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school can return to class after the school board made a hasty change granting him a reprieve.

The seven-member Christina School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.

Added: Yes, it's till a suspension. Which is still frikkin' idiotic. I do give these clowns credit for enough brains to see just what kind of bullshit the original policy is; I take points away for deciding "Well, we have to give some kind of punishment!" Which is like our idiot legislators like Snowe thinking "We have to pass SOME bill!" No you don't. But you don't have the brains or integrity to stand up for that.

bring a good price to vote for sticking you with this?American Enterprise Institute reported today that about 87 percent of the revenue in the original Baucus proposal to finance Obamacare would come from individuals with incomes of less than $200,000.Why yes, Dear Leader lied about not increasing your taxes; any of you surprised?

as the KKK.Leaders of the Maryland NAACP, worried that a Baltimore mayor's criminal conviction could result in the appointment of a white or Republican leader who may not fully represent the majority black and Democratic city, are asking state lawmakers to strip the governor of authority to permanently fill the office.

The request, made in a resolution adopted at a state meeting of the civil rights group last weekend, marks the first time a mainstream organization has raised questions about succession should Baltimore Mayor Dixon be convicted of any of the nine charges she faces. Dixon has been indicted for theft and perjury and the first of two trials is scheduled for early next month.

..."Our concern is who would the governor appoint?" Cheatham said. "Here you have a predominantly African-American city. What if the governor appointed somebody white? ... Would he appoint someone Irish to be the mayor?"

Update: turns out this is even more racist bullshitty than I thought:Here’s the irony.

The governor has absolutely nothing to do with such an appointment. Nada. The state defers to the city, and the city council president becomes the mayor to fill the term per the city charter. All of this came from Cheatham hearing someone discuss the topic on a talk radio show. It was all nonsense.

But that didn’t stop the state NAACP at the behest of Cheatham from passing a resolution asking the governor to defer to the city in picking the next mayor. As Cheatham says it passed “nearly unanimously” with little debate.

Cheatham also said he worried that a future Republican governor could appoint someone from his party to lead a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 9 to 1. “Would not the Republican governor have the ability to pick a Republican mayor?” he asked. “We just think there are some unanswered questions about the process,” Cheatham said.

We think so too, Mr. Cheatham – like why you use code words like “Republican” when, in fact, you mean “white”, you racist twit.

The Democrats(Evil Party, in case you weren't aware) stuffed a Special Double-Protected Species law(formally called a Hate-Crimes Bill) into a defense bill. And then made it a Direct Attack On The 1st Amendment Bill, as well.Republican Sen. Sam Brownback offered an amendment saying the bill could not be "construed or applied in a manner that infringes on any rights under the First Amendment" and could not place any burden on the exercise of First Amendment rights "if such exercise of religion, speech, expression, or association was not intended to plan or prepare for an act of physical violence or incite an imminent act of physical violence against another."

The Senate passed Brownback's amendment. After that, several Republicans, their fears allayed, voted for the whole defense/hate crimes package, which passed the Senate last July.and then,First, the committee -- controlled by majority Democrats, of course -- inserted the hate crimes measure into the House bill, where it had not been before. Then lawmakers made some crucial changes to Brownback's amendment. Where Brownback had insisted, and the full Senate had agreed, that the bill could not burden the exercise of First Amendment rights, the conference changed the wording to read that the bill could not burden the exercise of First Amendment rights "unless the government demonstrates ... a compelling governmental interest" to do otherwise.

That means your First Amendment rights are protected -- unless they're not.'a compelling governmental interest'. Like telling opponents "Stop causing me problems or you'll go to jail", maybe? Like saying "Your opposition is annoying me, and I can screw you over if you keep it up" maybe?

when a conservative* can tell an uncomfortable truth and be called a liar despite the facts? And the major media weenies are as bad as any lefties about it.*

Insty links to this post on the current lies about Rush Limbaugh. Flat-out lies that are repeated despite one simple thing: the man has been on national radio for more than 20 years, and if he'd actually said this crap attributed to him there's be recordings of it. And they're not there. The closest is the comment he made about McNab, and that wasn't racist; he was speaking of McNab's skill and the media viewpoint.

I was listening to him the other day and he said fairly flatly that his lawyers were contacting some of the media weenies and saying "You accuse me of making racist statements: prove it, or retract your accusation." Which has the potential to get real interesting. Like Rush or not, you ought to cheer him going after these clowns; anything that holds these people responsible for making false statements is good.

...By contrast, the WBGU study says the United States must cut emissions 100 percent by 2020—i.e., quit carbon entirely within ten years. Germany, Italy and other industrial nations must do the same by 2025 to 2030. China only has until 2035, and the world as a whole must be carbon-free by 2050.

'Carbon-free'. That such a statement could come from a physicist would seem to prove that you can be technically smart as hell and simultaneously dumb as a bag of hammers.

Second-rate, worn-0ut ones.

'Carbon-free'?!? The only way to make civilization that is to kill everyone, because even if you deliberately took us back to the Neolithic, you'd still have humans using those pesky fires to cook with and keep from freezing with, and they produce the evil carbon, so...

You'd think I'd be used to such by know, but is there a level of idiocy the global warmerists will NOT sink to?

from what you do' idiocy reminded me of: Jurassic Park. Actually, when Prof. Malcolm (in the movie) was having hysterics at them having actually recreated dinosaurs. At one point gibbering something along the lines of "You haven't actually created anything! You're just standing on the shoulders of what others have done!" Which struck me then, and still does, as one of the dumbest things a scientist could possibly say.

EVERY STEP MADE BY EVERY SCIENTIST STARTS ON THE SHOULDERS OF THOSE WHO WENT BEFORE. Nobody starts from actual square one; they all begin with the knowledge base of what worked, what did not, and lots of "That's an interesting idea, but we have no way of trying/testing it. Yet." For a scientist to denounce someone for 'standing on the shoulders' of previous researchers is a flatly moronic statement.

Kind of like someone saying "Knowledge belongs to everyone, so you doing something with it and making a profit is bad."

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

There were a couple of things I'd planned(hoped) to be able to do this month, but got some news last month that kind of changed the situation.

Son got married this past Saturday to a lady he met while at Fort Bliss. Due to distance and some other factors('distance' not meaning to Fort Bliss; it was done at her family's home a LONG ways further out) I wasn't able to attend. I should have some pictures shortly and I'll see if can post something.

Yes, sooner than I'd have liked after the previous mess; however, they've talked it through- a lot, according to her- and decided to go ahead. And damn, they sound happy.

as the WSJ put it.A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial 'death pathway'.

Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for 76-year- old Jack Jones, and his family claim he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers.

He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer had not come back and he was in fact suffering from pneumonia brought on by a chest infection.

To his family's horror, they were told he could have recovered if he'd been given the correct treatment.But wait! It gets better!Despite the fact that no tests were carried out to confirm the diagnosis, his family say doctors instructed nurses to stop giving him food and fluids....Reports commissioned by Mrs Jones's solicitor concluded that with antibiotics and a rehydrating drip he could have made a full recovery and survived for at least another two years.

The hospice and the doctors who treated Mr Jones continue to deny liability, but his widow has now accepted an £18,000 out-of-court settlement after being told she would otherwise lose her legal aid."We have no responsibility. And if you try to prove we do, we'll take away YOUR aid, too. We have ways of making you submit."

Baucus, you bastard, you want to shove this kind of crap down our throats. I hope some Montana buffalo runs over your sorry ass.

Betrayal: Sen. Olympia Snowe votes for the Baucus Health Care Takover and Tax You To Death Bill.I hate this woman. Like Lincoln she says it's not a promise to vote this way in the future and it's a flawed bill with lots of bad things in it. She rambled on about "history" calling and the need to show Congress can act. What an idiot.

She actually thinks her vote adds legitimacy to the process and outcome (her words, not my interpretation).

God damn I hate these "we were sent here to do something, anything" people. She lost on process (legislative language), she lost on budget and other issues and yet she is voting yes and handing the Democrats a bill and a political tool to do what she says she opposes in the name of doing 'something'. And being the great bi-partisan lioness of the Senate.

Dishonesty: Sen. Baucus(Evil Party Liar-MT) deliberately made up the 'bill' the CBO scored to get the rosy picture he wanted:But the Baucus bill deliberately takes advantage of the artificial stupidity of the CBO's code to compare seven years of spending to ten years of taxes to get a "deficit reduction."

Sure it's jackass to do that. But that's the way the CBO is supposed to do it -- even if it makes no sense -- and the Baucus bill "conceptual language" deliberately exploits that in order to deceive the public.

Stupidity:Then he told the story of how, just last January, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had bungled a WMD experiment using bubonic plague.

“None of you press wrote about that,” the man said, eyeballing me.

I had to correct him because I did write about that story — for Pajamas Media. My article cited two papers, the Sun and the Washington Times; I couldn’t locate any firsthand sources with access to the information. “How do you know that the information was correct?” I asked my fellow banquet guest.

“I was at the military briefing,” he said. Then he added that the briefing was not classified and included several members of the press.

I had the same reaction when I returned home from my trip on Friday night to read a single-line item on the Counterterrorism Blog: “Switzerland: Terror cops arrest Collider scientist linked with al-Qaeda,” it said. The Collider is the largest nuclear research facility in the world. For at least the next forty-eight hours the story did not appear anywhere in the U.S. press, despite the fact that the arrested nuclear scientist, a 32-year-old Algerian-born French man named Dr. Adlene Hicheur, was being described by France’s Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence as a “very high-level” operative with AQIM. That’s the same group who’d been experimenting with bubonic plague earlier in the year.Some of the media don't find it 'easier to ignore', they actively work to ignore such stories for various idiotic reasons. And it's going to be a part of a whole lot of people getting killed.

from the mouths of experts.Zachary’s offense? Taking a camping utensil that can serve as a knife, fork and spoon to school. He was so excited about recently joining the Cub Scouts that he wanted to use it at lunch. School officials concluded that he had violated their zero-tolerance policy on weapons, and Zachary was suspended and now faces 45 days in the district’s reform school.The kid is six years old.

I've said this about 'zero-tolerance' policies before: they're too often not for the safety of the kids, they're so the bureaucrats running the schools don't have to think. So they don't have to take responsibility for a decision. For instance, Still, some school administrators argue that it is difficult to distinguish innocent pranks and mistakes from more serious threats, and that the policies must be strict to protect students.

“There is no parent who wants to get a phone call where they hear that their child no longer has two good seeing eyes because there was a scuffle and someone pulled out a knife,” said George Evans, the president of the Christina district’s school board. He defended the decision, but added that the board might adjust the rules when it comes to younger children like Zachary.Well, if you have a working brain it's not hard to distinguish something like this from a 'serious threat', you moron. And don't you love the wording innocent pranks and mistakes from more serious threats ? Even a mistake is a 'serious threat' to these people. And speaking of not wanting to think and take responsibility,For Delaware, Zachary’s case is especially frustrating because last year state lawmakers tried to make disciplinary rules more flexible by giving local boards authority to, “on a case-by-case basis, modify the terms of the expulsion.”

The law was introduced after a third-grade girl was expelled for a year because her grandmother had sent a birthday cake to school, along with a knife to cut it. The teacher called the principal — but not before using the knife to cut and serve the cake.Yeah, must have been real hard to distinguish this from a 'more serious threat', huh?

You have some of the standard excuses for zero-brainzero-tolerance policies, namely "If they have discretion they'll be bigots and abuse some students." Speaking of not wanting to think and take reseponsibility,“The result of those studies is that more school districts have removed discretion in applying the disciplinary policies to avoid criticism of being biased,” said Ronnie Casella, an associate professor of education at Central Connecticut State University who has written about school violence. He added that there is no evidence that zero-tolerance policies make schools safer.and“Something has to change,” said Dodi Herbert, whose 13-year old son, Kyle, was suspended in May and ordered to attend the Christina district’s reform school for 45 days after another student dropped a pocket knife in his lap. School officials declined to comment on the case for reasons of privacy.

And now we come to the expert I mentioned:Charles P. Ewing, a professor of law and psychology at the University at Buffalo Law School who has written about school safety issues, said he favored a strict zero-tolerance approach.

“There are still serious threats every day in schools,” Dr. Ewing said, adding that giving school officials discretion holds the potential for discrimination and requires the kind of threat assessments that only law enforcement is equipped to make.Yep. Only the cops are equipped to decide that the knife sent to cut the cake isn't a threat. Or that the kid excited over something new isn't trying to stab someone. Need special training for that, y'know. Especially if you're an expert.

I once heard 'expert' defined as "An idiot from out of town who has a briefcase." Professor Ewing would seem to prove that.

The Senate is having a vote on their "We'll let you know 'bout part of it' socialized medicine bill today.

Massachusetts has decided to go at rationing health care. On the scheme that, last I heard Mitt Romney still defends. Just about guarantee he'll try for the Presidency again, and we should ram this down his throat. Or up his ass. Or whatever will get the attention of these morons, those both in and out of the Stupid Party.

A bunch of French politicians are defending their Culture Minister for his book about buying sex with boys. Which was brought up because the Culture Minister is defending the child rapist Polanski.Melenchon told Europe 1 on Sunday that the continuing attacks on Mitterrand were "unacceptable" and criticized those who would "cast stones" at the minister.Well, Melenchon, screw you; I don't care if you think it's acceptable or not. Especially when we read things likeIn the television interview, Mitterrand described the book as "not totally autobiographical" and was evasive about the precise nature of his experiences in Thailand.

Sondra points to some weapons-grade feminazi idiocy. Or insanity. Or something.

The Oklahoma City PD is buying a new vehicle:Oklahoma City police figure it's time to replace the 1980 Peacekeeper armoed vehicle they've used for decades. Department leaders are asking the city council for approval to buy a Lenco BearCat (http://www.swattrucks.com/products.htm) that is a bulletproof vehicle capable of carrying a dozen officers.

The estimated cost, according to city documents is $279,437 and the Police department will use Asset Forefeiture money. In order words, money from cars and other items seized during drug raids will help finance the purchase. The Lenco BearCat will be equipped with a thermal imaging camera system to locate persons during the dark.I wonder if they ever actually used the previous armored vehicle for anything except parades or demonstrations? I may ask.

Ok, I just looked at one of the posts linked to in Thompsons piece on the nutcase-level feminists; the comments are at least as bad as the post itself. And yeah, Margaret, you ARE batshit crazy.

Harry has some pictures to illustrate the writings of a moron who thinks East Germany under the communists was just a wonderful, wonderful place. From the comments:"having little heavy industry and few mineral resources…From a country with few raw materials and an underdeveloped industry devastated by the second world war,

Not been to Chemnitz, Jena, Zwickau, Rostock or the coalfields or potash mines then. In fact, prior to WWII what became the GDR was, on average, more prosperous and industrialized than the West. Devastation there was, but the West got Marshall Aid to rebuild while Stalin forbade the East Germans from accepting it, while he moved all possible plant and equipment from the GDR to the Soviet Union as reparations."

The Ground Precautionary Message ACALA #97-031, from November 2006, clearly states that if an M4 barrel reaches just 737 degrees Celcius, the barrel will be weaked to the point where burst.

(3) BURST BARRELS RESULT WHEN THE WEAPONS ARE FIRED UNDER VERY EXTREME FIRING SCHEDULES AND THE BARREL TEMPERATURE EXCEEDS 1360 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. WHEN THE BARREL REACHES THESE EXTREME TEMPERATURES, THE BARREL STEEL WEAKENS TO THE POINT THAT THE HIGH PRESSURE GASES BURST THROUGH THE SIDE OF THE BARREL APPROXIMATELY 4 INCHES IN FRONT OF THE CHAMBER. THIS CONDITION CAN RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY.

You are not going to see an M4 barrel white hot because by that point it would have exploded!

The AP also infers that the M4 Carbine is designed to handle a high rate of fire

The high rate of fire appears to have put a number of weapons out of commission, even though the guns are tested and built to operate in extreme conditions.

This is also not true. From the Ground Precautionary Message[^1]:

(B) FIRING 140 ROUNDS, RAPIDLY AND CONTINUOUSLY, WILL RAISE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BARREL TO THE COOK-OFF POINT. AT THIS TEMPERATURE, ANY LIVE ROUND REMAINING IN THE CHAMBER FOR ANY REASON MAY COOK-OFF (DETONATE) IN AS SHORT A PERIOD AS 10 SECONDS.

...

(D) SUSTAINED RATE OF FIRE FOR THE M16 SERIES RIFLES AND M4 SERIES CARBINES IS 12-15 ROUNDS PER MINUTE. THIS IS THE ACTUAL RATE OF FIRE THAT A WEAPON CAN CONTINUE TO BE FIRED FOR AN Indefinite LENGTH OF TIME WITHOUT SERIOUS OVERHEATING.

I've gotta say, this crap is not encouraging my confidence in this weapon for the troops.

and the technological blessing of internet file-sharing sites, Americans are just now coming to realize how commonplace criminal abuse by the police has become -- and how difficult it is to hold an abusive police officer accountable for crimes against innocent people. But this is the square root of the problem we would confront in the event that the UN actually created the global police force the foundation of which is being laid by Noble and his comrades.

Pointed to by War on Guns. You want to see what's meant by 'difficult', look at this story:Dolton police reportedly resisted turning over 911 tapes, videotapes of the lockup or police reports until they were ordered to release the items by a judge.

The village denied the existence of any 911 tape from a caller complaining that police were beating Smith. But an officer told Smith and the prosecutor as the trial was set to begin that there was a tape.

A judge ordered the tape turned over, but when the tape got there, no 911 call could be found and the officer said he never told the defense attorney and the prosecutor there was a 911 call, the lawsuit says.

Under the extraordinary circumstances, the prosecutor decided not to have the officer testify and to tell the jurors that the officer changed his story.Nice, polite way to say "The officer lied and we don't want him facing purjury charges", isn't it?

And this. When departments and prosecutors go out of their way to prevent crooks with badges from facing the consequences of what they do, why should people trust them?

'Protected Species' laws called 'hate crimes' laws:For example, imagine both Ms. Quinn and I are both victims of similar crimes - perhaps vicious assaults in which we suffer comparable bodily harm. During the course of these crimes, the attackers repeatedly state their hate for us - in my case, hatred for white women (or short people, or Irish-American librarians, or whatever); and in Ms. Quinn's, lesbians. There are witnesses and both perpetrators are apprehended.

The only real difference will be the punishment the criminals receive.

Because she is part of a special minority, Ms. Quinn's beating would be treated as if it was worse than mine and the guilty party would be sentenced accordingly with a longer time in jail.

Someone please explain this "equality" to me thing again.

She also notes that carrying a 'socialistworker.org' banner at your 'rights' march doesn't exactly help your point

Chapter 873.2. Read this article, and take note of some things:His opponents are describing the award as premature. The deeper problem is that the Nobel will underscore the extent to which Obama is a cosmopolitan figure, much loved in European capitals because he is the change they have been looking for....The effort to understand where Obama hatred comes from has been one of the few growth areas in the American economy.

There is no doubt that some of the anger is fueled by racial feeling, which is not the same as saying that all opposition to Obama is explained by racism. Most Obama opponents are simply conservative Republicans who disagree with him. But there are too many racist signs at rallies and too many overtly racial pronouncements in the fever swamps of the right-wing media to deny that racism is part of the anti-Obama mix.Etc.

Got that? Too many of the people opposed to The One are racists. They don't like him just because the Europeans do(like the ones who keep saying "Yes, you're wonderful; no we won't do anything for you.?") 'racist signs' and 'overtly racial pronouncements', never mind that tends to mean people like Dionne saying "I see what the sign says, I heard what you said, but I know those are code words to hide your racism" and other such bullshit. Oh, and apparently it's conservative Republicans alone against him; no independents, libertarians, none of the liberals with real problems with him actually exist(apparently).

And the admission that those 'angry white males' actually have some gripes? It's mostly because "If we don't acknowledge them, they'll join dodgy groups and become even more raaaaacist!" Etc.

the other day. Some of the parents had as part of their upsetJim and Gina Pronchick, who were among the few protesters who have children in the school, said they were upset that their son was in the video without their permission -- and that school officials hadn't fully explained the context of the song.This is getting a lot of the usual treatment by the media weenies("You don't like Obama because he's black!", etc.), but down at the end you haveThe video was made a month later when Charisse Carney-Nunes, who wrote the children's book "I Am Barack Obama," visited the school and children sang the song again, school officials said.

"There was no intention to make any political statement or promote a political agenda at all," Superintendent Christopher Manno said in the statement.'No intention' my ass. And if that's actually true for this administrator, he didn't have the brains to actually read the words and think about them.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Actually two, but I decided to try one. Yes, I may try the other later, too.

You want to know how great this friggin' country is? I can go to Ace Hardware to get music wire. And while I'm there I find they have 4x40 taps. AND 4" pieces of 4x40 threaded rod. Which producedYou can't really see in the shot, but each has a side hole drilled & tapped, and a short piece of threaded rod as a setscrew. With a slot in the end for adjusting. From left to right the pins are .120, .092, .078 and .062. I need a .100, but they didn't have that size wire and I didn't take time this evening to turn one(but the body is ready).

I did discover something while doing this: had both holes drilled, ready to tap the one and my tap wrency is gone. Vanished. I actually have two of the damn things, and neither one could be located, so I used the drill press. If you've never tried that, you lock the tap in the drill chuck, get the hole centered under it, use just enough pressure to lower the tap and turn the chuck by hand. For small holes it works well, and keeps the tap square to the hole. Which also reduces the chance of breaking the tap, especially on a small one like this. If I were going to be doing a LOT of these, or something similar, I'd go to Brownell's and get this rig; uses the press to keep it straight and don't have to turn the chuck.

I also found that, while using the lathe and a bit to face the ends of the body is fun, for this I can do it quite nicely with a file. Center and lock the piece in the chuck, and while it spins use the file to square it. Since one end is going to be whacked with a hammer, and the other is going to have the center cut with the lathe, it speeds things up a bit.

I think I'll start with one of the posts on how Obama should accept the Nobel, this one on 'in the name of American soldiers and sailors', with this at the end:
...Obviously, it didn’t work because it wasn’t true, and the world beyond our shores could see that it wasn’t true because they could see the actual consequences of “American Exceptionalism” just by walking out their front doors.

The real racism here is that several layers of producers and editors at the Miami Herald thinks "Muslim" and "terrorist" are synonyms. The next time they want to look for people with racial/cultural biases, they'll have to go far.
Damn, and from a real news organization, too.

steps up to the plate:This morning on CNN’s Reliable Sources, White House communications director Anita Dunn defended her recent comment to Time magazine that Fox News is “opinion journalism masquerading as news.” Noting the inordinate amount of attention Fox devotes to stirring fake controversies like Bill Ayers and ACORN, Dunn explained:Got that? ACORN and vote fraud and embezzlement and all the other stuff is a 'fake controversy'. The President having an adviser who's a domestic terrorist who had a hand in one murder(that we know of) and planned mass murder, that's a 'fake controversy'. Got to defend The One, who doesn't have the balls to go on Fox News, where he might face actual questions. Because Fox is 'an arm of the Republican Party', y'know... And it's not a real news organization like the Clinton News Network, either.

into the state; and I wanted him run off, as I don't like it turning this chilly and wet. Instead, he was having his ass kissed by the Society of Environmental Journalist. Who were making damn sure he wouldn't have to actually answer questions from someone who didn't kiss his ass:...Gore was presented with an opportunity to address his critics and defend his views. Unfortunately, as this video of the encounter shows, not only did Gore do what politicians usually do - evade the question - but his SEJ buddies made sure there would be no followup questions by turning off the microphone and forcing the questioner to leave.Must be nice, being a hypocrite politician who has lots of worshippers to keep him from facing real questions and doubts.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Ahem. I had an idea for punches. If you've messed with the things, you know that, especially in smaller sizes, when you have a stuck or very tight pin they have a bad habit of bending. And you can never get them actually straight again. So I thought of making the actual punch part replaceable. I won't have a tailstock spindle and drill chuck for the lathe for a while, but a thought occurred: face-off the ends of the body so they're square, then on one end use a right-cutting bit angled close to straight-in to cut a small hole; that way you'd have the center marked to start the bit*. So I tried it, and it worked.From 1/8" down to 1/16". The first three are some 1/8" stock I had, 2nd and 3rd turned down on the drill press with a file(too small for the chuck on the lathe), 4th and 5th are music wire. Was able to drill the holes just undersize enough on four to make the pin a drive-fit, the last was a touch loose so used a drop of threadlocker. So if I damage one, I should be able to pull it and replace it.

If I could find a tap and some screws small enough(these bodies are 1/4") I could drill and tap from the side and use the setscrews to hold the pins. Maybe bigger bodies.

It's nice when something works.

*No, it's not absolutely required to have them dead-centered as long as they're straight, but dammit, I wanted them centered.

it's evil. According to these people, since even your thoughts are based one what you've learned, words from the past, your thoughts don't belong to you. As to what you create? Doesn't matter if you hit on a whole new way of looking at things, of doing things, your idea, and the fruits of your labor, do not belong to you. And they think they have the moral obligation to loot you for it. They are evil.

I'd bet an awful lot of these people are among the "Communism wasn't bad, it just never had a real try" school. And would make excuses for Stalin if you pinned them down on it.

of a sorry excuse for a lawman. If you're travelling through Missouri, skip this place; if they have someone like this as their COP, God only knows what other kinds of slime they have running other offices.

And the district court who let him off the hook is not made up of intellectual prizes, either.

In this story is this bit:Tuesday was her first time shooting even though she’s also a member of the National Rifle Association because “they stand up for the Second Amendment, which is very imoprtant to me.”

Goldstein, who lives in Hallandale Beach, is a Holocaust survivor whose family was forced out of its home in Romania and into a ghetto.

“We went through hell,” she said. “We could not defend ourselves.”

Goldstein said that is part of why she feels passionately about the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, which she said provides “the freedom that I know I can defend myself.”And in the comments the clown 'mayor Jim' says...a right to keep and bear arms...

Does she have a number on her Bare Arm?? Has she not witnessed enough hate and violence in her lifetime. How many more senseless violent deaths must occur to get it through to her that guns are a problem not an answer.So not only is he stupid, he has the bad taste to display it in public. And the bad manners to insult this woman.

When Jackson was searching the Web for a replacement shotgun stock, supervisor Christie Vazquez -- who admitted in a subsequent deposition to being "very anti-gun" and had quarreled with him before about politics -- noticed what he was doing. Vazquez said she was scared because it was only a few weeks after the Virginia Tech massacre (see CBS Newsvideo), so she promptly reported her colleague's Web browsing to Planco's human resources department. Vazquez also informed the HR department that Jackson owned guns and was a member of the National Rifle Association.

You can guess what happened next: according to court documents, the HR representative, Jamie Davis, replied that reporting the visits to Mossberg.com and other sites was "the right thing" to do, and ordered the information technology department to investigate Jackson's Internet activity. After receiving a list of Web sites visited, Davis recommended that Jackson be placed on leave, which the company authorized. Planco disabled Jackson's front door and computer access and arranged for undercover police to be at the building the next morning.And so on, leading to his being fired. Disgusting in general, but the bigotry of VasquezJackson, who has a legal concealed carry permit in Pennsylvania, accompanied Vazquez when she was hunting for apartments in dodgy areas of Philadelphia. He gave her a tour of the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he used to work, and took Vazquez to a shooting range and showed her how to use a gun. (She confirmed in a later deposition (PDF) that she enjoyed the outing.)is just amazing. She should be ashamed, if she has any shame.

E-mail me

at elmtreeforge at att point net

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences. - C.S. Lewis

Y'all got on this boat for different reasons, but y'all come to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin'. I aim to misbehave. - Capt. Mal

A Rifleman’s Prayer:Oh Lord, I would live my life in freedom, peace and happiness, enjoying the simple pleasures of hearth and home. I would die an old, old man in my own bed, preferably of sexual overexertion.

But if that is not to be, Lord, if monsters such as this should find their way to my little corner of the world on my watch, then help me to sweep those bastards from the ramparts, because doing that is good, and right, and just.

And if in this I should fall, let me be found atop a pile of brass, behind the wall I made of their corpses. Geek with a .45

"He's Black Council,", I said.

"Or maybe stupid," Ebenezar countered.

I thought about it. "Not sure which is scarier."

Ebenezar blinked at me, then snorted. "Stupid, Hoss. Every time. Only so many blackhearted villains in the world, and they only get uppity on occasion. Stupid's everywhere, every day." Ebenezar McCoy

“A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition” ― Rudyard Kipling

This deprecation of individual freedom was objectionable to me. I am convinced now, as I was then, that man is an end because he is a child of God. Man is not made for the state; the state is made for man. To deprive man of freedom is to relegate him to the status of a thing, rather than elevate him to the status of a person. Man must never be treated as means to the end of the state; but always as an end within himself." Dr. M.L. King Jr.